Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stock Price Down 8.7% After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded down 8.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $265.00 to $250.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Apple traded as low as $202.52 and last traded at $204.34. 39,048,828 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 54,755,872 shares. The stock had previously closed at $223.89.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on AAPL. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Apple from $183.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $263.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Argus raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Apple to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.26.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in Apple by 21.1% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 3,380,064 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $787,631,000 after purchasing an additional 588,427 shares during the period. Thomasville National Bank grew its position in shares of Apple by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 264,740 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $61,684,000 after buying an additional 16,478 shares during the period. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC now owns 64,015 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $14,916,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Svenska Handelsbanken AB publ purchased a new position in Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,146,000. Finally, Orca Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 5.6% during the third quarter. Orca Investment Management LLC now owns 40,046 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $9,331,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 8.7 %

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $230.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $233.36. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.45, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.87%.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.